Over-center door hinge



De c .-1970 3, P. WRIGHT 3,545,034-

OVER-CENTER DOOR HINGE Filed Jan. 31, 1969 INVEN TL R.

5 27a 5221/ M'zg/zi ATTORNFY United States Patent 3,545,034 OVER-CENTER DOOR HINGE Gene Paul Wright, Anderson, Ind., assignor to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Delaware.

Filed Jan. 31, 1969, Ser. No. 795,448 Int. Cl. E051? 1/12 US. Cl. 16-180 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A hinge for a door includes a pair of binge plates having axially ofiset pin-receiving sleeves with coplanar axes. A bowed pin extends through the sleeves and is, in a free form unstressed position, coplanar with the sleeve axes when the hinge plates are in a first predetermined position. Upon rotation of one hinge plate through an arc of less than or greater than 180 from the first predetermined position, the bowed pin is deformed or stressed to a position out of coplanar relationship with the sleeve axes. The force generated by the bowed pin attempting to return to its unstressed position applies a force on the offset sleeves tending to return the one plate to the first predetermined position. If the one hinge plate is rotated through an arc of substantially 180 to a second predetermined position, the sleeve axes and the pin axis are again coplanar as in the first predetermined position. The second predetermined position is a stable one. Although the bowed pin is deformed in the second position, the door will remain in this position until it is moved, then the door will return to the first predetermined position. v

. This invention relates to door hinges and more specifically to door hinges of the type wherein the hinge plates are maintained in one or more predetermined positions.

- Conventionally, such hinges include a pair of hinge plates pivotally interconnected by a pin and various levers, links and springs which interconnect either the hinge plates or the hinged and support members to maintain the hinge plates in various predetermined positions. The additional links and levers and springs not only add additional cost but'require additional space. Such space is not always readily available, such as in vehicle body glove boxes or console boxes having doors movable between open and closed positions.

It is the primary object of this invention to provide a hinge which includes no additional links, levers and springs for maintaining a door in a plurality of predetermined positions relative to the support member. It is another object of this invention to provide a door hinge wherein the hinge plates and a bowed pin cooperate to both pivotally mount a door on a support and to maintain the door in certain predetermined positions with respect to the support. A further object of this invention is to provide a door hinge which includes a pair of hinge plates and a bowed pin interconnecting the plates and operative to maintain the plates in oppositely disposed predetermined positions with respect to each other. Still another object of this invention is to provide a hinge which includes a pair of pivotally interconnected hinge plates having axially ofiset hinge pintles and a bowed pin interconnecting the olfset pintles and operative to maintain the hinge plates in either of two positions substantially diametrically opposite from each other.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a partial view of a conventional automobile instrument panel having a conventional glove box door mounted thereon by a hinge, according to this invention, with the door shown in open position;

Patented Dec. 8, 1970 FIG. 2 is an enlarged partially broken away view of the hinge taken along line 22 of FIG. 1 and showing the hinge plates with the sleeves and the bowed pin in full lines in door open position and in dashed lines in door closed position;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken along line 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 showing the hinge plates and pin when the door is moving between open and closed position;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 3 showing the hinge plates and pin in a right angle with the hinge plates at right angles to each other moving between the second and first predetermined positions.

FIG. 6 is a view taken generally along line 6-6 of FIG. 5.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a conventional vehicle body instrument panel 10 includes a glove box 12. A glove box door 14 is pivotally mounted on the panel 10 for movement between an open position as shown and a closed position (not shown) by a hinge 18 according to this invention.

Referring now to FIG. 2, hinge 18 includes hinge plates 20 and 22, respectively, secured to the glove box door 14 and to the instrument panel 10 by screws 24.

Hinge plate 22 includes a pair of coaxially spaced pin receiving sleeves 26 and 28. Hinge plate 20 includes a pair of coaxially spaced pin receiving sleeves 30 and 32 and an intermediate pin receiving sleeve 34 having an axis parallel and coplanar to the axis of sleeves 30 and 32.

When the hinge plates are placed in a first predetermined position (not shown) in generally parallel spaced relationship on top of each other, the sleeves 26, 28, 30, 32 and 34 define a passage which is so shaped that the bowed pin 36 can extend therethrough in a free form unstressed position, as shown by the phantom lines of FIG. 2. A bowed pin 36 is passed through sleeves 26, 28, 30, 32 and 34 and is nonrotatably attached to sleeves 26 and 28 of hinge plate 22 in any suitable manner such as shown by stacking. In this first predetermined position, the axes of sleeves 26, 28, 30, 32 and 34 are coplanar to each other and to the axis of the bowed pin 36.

When hinge plate 20 is rotated through an arc of substantially 180 from the aforenoted first predetermined position to a second predetermined position shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the bowed pin 36 is deformed from its unstressed position to a symmetrically opposite stressed position. This second position of hinge plate 20 corresponds to the open position of the door 14, shown in FIG. 1. In the second predetermined position, the pin axis and the axes of the sleeves are again coplanar and also coplanar to the first predetermined position. Because of this relationship, the hinge 20 and 22 plates are in a stable position relative to each other and the door 14 will remain in the open position without any additional holdopen mechanism.

As shown in FIG. 4, when hinge plate 20 is rotated clockwise through an arc of less than from the second predetermined position, shown in FIG. 3, the axes of the pin-receiving sleeves 26, 28, 30, 32 and 34 move out of coplanar relationship. The pin 36, in attempting to return to its unstressed position, exerts a stress force on the sleeves 30, 32 and 34 tending to return the hinge plate 20 to the first predetermined position.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show the hinge plates 20 and 22 in a right angle position when hinge plate 20 has been rotated an arc of 90 from either the first or second predetermined positions. When the plate 20 is in this position, the displacement of the axes of the pin-receiving sleeves 30, 32 and 34 are each at their maximum vertical distance from the axis of the sleeves 26 and 28. However, the axes of the sleeves 26, 28, 30, 32 and 34 and the axis of the hinge pin 36 are coplanar. The coplanar axes are not coplanar with their coplanar position in either the first or second predetermined position, so that the pin 36 in attempting to return to its freeform shape, exerts a force on sleeves 30, 32 and 34 tending to return the hinge plate 20 and the door 14 to the first predetermined position.

In the particular design of the instrument panel shown in FIG. 1, the closed position of the door 14 is a position between the positions shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, with the door moving through an arc of slightly less than 90 from its open position.

In the closed position of the door, the axes of the pinreceiving sleeves 26, 28, 30, 32 and 34 are again out of coplanar relationship so that the stress force exerted by the pin 36 in attempting to return to its unstressed position exerts a force on the sleeves 30, 32'and 34 tending to move the hinge plate to its first predetermined position. In the closed position of the door 14, the axes of the pin-receiving sleeves 26, 28, 30, 32 and 34 are still out of coplanar relationship so that the stress force exerted by the pin 36 in attempting to return to its unstressed position exerts a force on the sleeves 30, 32 and 34 tending to move the hinge plate 20 toward its first predetermined position. This position is, of course, clockwise of the position shown in FIG. 3 and accordingly, the door 14 is biased clockwise and against the instrument panel 10 so as to be resiliently maintained in the closed position.

It should be noted that the biasing action of the bowed pin 36 will move the hinge plate 20 either clockwise or counterclockwise from the second predetermined position toward the first predetermined position depending on the direction of the initial displacement of the hinge plate 20 from the second predetermined position. If only one direction of return to the first predetermined position is desired, a stop should be provided to prevent the displacement of the hinge plate 20 from the second predetermined position in the undesired direction of return. As

lel to the axis of the pivot means, the other hinge plate' including at least one pin-receiving sleeve having an axis parallel to the axis of the sleeve of the one hinge plate and coaxial to the axis of the pivot means, a bowed pin extending through the sleeves and non-rotatably secured to one hinge plate, the bowed pin being in a. generally free-form position in a predetermined position of the hinge plates, the sleeve axes and the bowed pin axis being coplanar in the predetermined position, relative rotational movement of the plates through an arc of substantially 180 from the predetermined position deforming the bowed pin from its generally free-form position to a symmetrically opposite stressed form position wherein the pin and sleeve axes are coplanar to maintain the plates in a stable second predetermined position, relative rotational movement of the plates through an arc other than substantially 180 from the first predetermined position 'deforming the bowed pin from its generally free-form position to a position wherein the pin axis is out of coplanar relationship with the sleeve axes, the bowed pin biasing the hinge plates toward the first predetermined position.

2. A spring hinge comprising, a pair of hinge plates, one hinge plate including a pair of coaxially spaced pinreceiving sleeves, the other hinge plate including a pair of coaxially spaced pin-receiving sleeves and an intermediate pin-receiving sleeve with an axis parallel tothe axis of the pair of sleeves of the other hinge plate, a

' bowed pin extending through the sleeves and non-rotatshown in FIGS. 1 and 3 an extending flange 38 of the door 14 engages the lower surface of the instrument panel 10 to provide such a stop.

While this embodiment of the invention uses five pinreceiving sleeves, it would be possible to use more pinreceiving sleeves alternating along the hinge pivot axis with a suitably shaped pin in the unstressed condition.

Also, it would be possible to pivotally interconnect the hinge plates by separate pivot means with the bowed pin and its pin-receiving sleeves being used as biasing means only.

Thus, this invention provides an improved door hinge which both pivotally interconnects the plates and maintains the plates in two predetermined positions by the interaction of the axially offset pin receiving sleeves of the hinge plates and a bowed pin.

I claim:

1. A spring hinge comprising, a pair of hinge plates, means pivotally securing the hinge plates together for movement relative to each other, one hinge plate includ- 1 generally free-form position to a symmetrically opposite stressed form position wherein the pin axes and sleeve axis are coplanar to maintain the one plate in a stable position opposite the predetermined position, rotational movement of one plate through an are other than substantially 180 from the predetermined position deforming the bowed pin from its generally free-form position to a position wherein the pin axis is out of coplanar relationship with thesleeve axes, the bowed'pin biasing the one hinge plate toward the predetermined position.

References Cited 

